Liverpool 0 Barcelona 1 - CL (Mar 6 2007)

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL 0 Barcelona 1

Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

Scorer(s) - Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Tue 6 Mar 2007 Star Man - Jamie Carragher

 

 

 

 

 

For the second time in four days, we suffered an undeserved 1-0 defeat at home, but the contrast in emotions at the final whistle between Saturday and last night told it's own story. Saturday was despair, Tuesday was delight. The scoreline on the night may have favoured Barca, but just like on Saturday the best team did not win the game. Thankfully, the two goals we managed in the Nou Camp proved decisive and we are now in the quarter finals.

Over two games, the best team went through, and even Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard had the good grace to concede that fact. As made up as I am about going through, I'm actually more than a little upset that we lost this game, as it makes it look like we scraped through when the reality is we pummelled the best team in Europe for the best part of an hour, but just didn't get the reward we deserved.

All day I had a bad feeling about this game. In my head I could see us not knowing whether to stick or twist, and getting caught between the two. My fear was that we'd see 0-0 as a good score, and I couldn't shake the fear that we'd get to 70 minutes with the game goalless, thinking we were doing well, but then let one in and it would be panic stations. I said exactly this to a few mates before the game, and when Gudjohnsen scored I found all my fears actually playing out before my eyes. It was horrible, and I aged ten years in that last 15 minutes.

That doesn't really tell the whole story though, as although I was right about it being goalless for seventy minutes and then we let one in, my fear about us not knowing whether we should attack or defend was completely unfounded. We attacked, and then some. That first half performance was arguably as good as I've ever seen from us. We faced the best attacking side in the world (perhaps the best attacking club side ever assembled), and restricted them to one shot (that went miles over), whilst we peppered their goal and managed ten goal attempts, including two that struck the woodwork.

This season it seems I'm repeatedly making the point about us not taking our chances, and not being clinical enough etc, but what happened in the 1st half wasn't about that, this time it really was about sheer bad luck. The second half saw us waste some good opening, but the chances we had in the first half, well I don't really think we could have done much more. Lady luck was nowhere to be seen, no doubt she'd been lured to the Bridge by Roman's roubles.

The openings we created in the first half were numerous. Riise had a fine shot that flew just wide, then he hit a thunderbolt against the bar. Bellamy did well to power in a shot that stung Valdes' palms, Kuyt was first to the rebound but his shot was remarkably kept out by the keeper's knee. The loose ball fell to Riise, and his effort was cleared off the line before Vlades then saved Arbeloa's shot. The best opportunity in that unbelievable few seconds was probably Dirk's, but having seen the replay of it he did everything right and it was just an astonishing save.

Then Valdes' poor clearance fell to Momo forty odd yards out, and his first time effort looked like it would be a spectacular first goal for the club for the Mali man, but no, the crossbar intervened again. I turned to my dad and said 'We're going out here you know, it's one of those nights'. What else are you meant to think when clearly nothing is going to go right in front of goal no matter what you do?

The first half was spell binding stuff, played out in front of the usual European night atmosphere. It was loud, very loud, and YNWA at the start was spine tingling. What made it all the more special was the Barca fans joining in with it, but more on them later.

Gillett and Hicks were in attendance, and although they've no doubt been briefed on what these nights are like, it's impossible to comprehend the magnitude of a European night at Anfield until you've experienced it. They have now, and they can't fail to have been impressed. They both love their sport, that's obvious, but they would be the first to admit that football isn't their passion. It might well become it after this, as they will have been blown away by it.

Of the two, Hicks seems the more excitable to me, he'd be the one I'd expect would come away from Anfield thinking about how much he wants to see the best players here and how he can go about making it happen. What this game showed once again, is that we just need to add that bit of world class quality in the final third, and we'll be there.

In the first half we were just unlucky, in the second half we made things more difficult for ourselves because we were just not clinical enough. Kuyt and Bellamy both failed to get anything on a stunning cross from Gerrard, whilst the skipper himself had three presentable chances after the break, none of which he could convert. Substitute Peter Crouch missed the easiest chance of all after being picked out by the lively Pennant, whilst Jermaine also brought a good save out of Valdes late on.

On another night we seriously could have scored five or six against Barca, but a combination of bad luck and not being clinical enough meant we drew another blank. Fortunately on this occasion it didn't cost us, largely thanks to the tremendous work rate shown by the whole team (none more than Dirk who was unbelievable), and the excellence of the back four.

There were some outstanding performers in red shirts, but one man stood head and shoulders above everybody, just as he did on Saturday. Jamie Carragher's brilliance on the big occasion almost defies belief. Time and again he produces superhuman performances in these kind of games, but this was possibly his finest yet.

There was only one real moment of danger in the first half, and that was when Deco wriggled free on the edge of the box. It opened up for him, he pulled back his right foot and I'm sure I wasn't the only one just waiting for the ball to hit the back of Pepe's net. Then out of nowhere appears Carra to make a crunching block challenge to prevent Deco getting the shot in. He does this time and again (there was a similar one on Ronaldo at the weekend) and it's because he reads the game so well.


In ninety minutes, Ronaldinho got away from him just once. It almost proved decisive, but his shot hit the post when a goal seemed certain. The Brazilian did nothing in the first leg either, and I doubt he's ever faced a tougher opponent than Carra.

When Ronaldinho's shot hit the post, I began to feel a bit better. It was almost like a reverse of the feeling I got when Momo hot the bar. "If we were going to go out, then surely that would have gone in?" was my reasoning. Then they threw on the degenerate gambling, cheating albino, who predictably scored, and I was back to thinking 'uh oh, we're going out here'.

The goal was a bit weird, as out of the corner of my eye I saw Finnan fall over and I was hoping maybe he'd been fouled and we'd get a free kick. Play went on, and Gudjohnsen calmly took the ball round Pepe and found the net. I looked at Finnan, and he didn't appeal for anything so obviously it was just a slip. There was also a hint of offside about it, but maybe Arbeloa was playing him on.

It's a strange experience when 40,000 people collectively shit their pants at the same moment. There was a couple of seconds of stunned silence as the Barca fans went wild, but then the roar went up to let the players know we were with them as they faced a backs to the wall final fifteen minutes.

The next couple of minutes were horrible, as Barca had total possession and we couldn't keep the ball. Reina made a comfortable save from Messi, but the pressure was starting to build. We were tired, very tired. We no longer had the pace of Bellamy as an outlet as he'd made way for Pennant shortly before Barca's goal. On top of that, Riise was shattered, so was Dirk and Gerrard also looked like he was feeling the pace.

We were still doing well at the back, and the midfield were protecting them well, but we didn't have the energy to keep the ball and cause them any problems at the back. But then we got a second wind from somewhere and pushed on again. Riise was replaced by Aurelio, and that gave us fresh impetus on the left, whilst Pennant gave us a good outlet on the other side.

Dirk and Stevie seemed to come to life again, and we began to threaten once more. Gerrard had an opportunity when Kuyt's tireless chasing won the ball back on the edge of the Barca box, but his run was curtailed by Marquez. I fancied Aurelio to bury the free-kick, but it struck the wall and went behind for a corner. We kept a lot of people back for it, but still nearly scored when from Barca's clearance, Alonso lofted the ball back in to Gerrard, who cut back inside the defender but saw his shot beaten away by Valdez.

Barca were throwing everything forward, but were unable to get a clear sight of Reina's goal as our players worked unbelievably hard to close down any space. Arbeloa deserves great credit for the way he dealt with Messi and then Guily. He picked up a ridiculoius booking for a fair tackle, and was on a knife edge for the rest of the game but he stuck to his task very well.

Finnan too was outstanding, that one slip apart, and Eto'o's impact on the game was negligible. We played so well in every department, and that's why it really annoys me that we lost the game. We deserved to go through in a blaze of glory here, not by hanging on and shitting ourselves for the last fifteen minutes. I feel a bit cheated by it, as we played so, so well, but didn't really get the ultimate reward of a win or even a draw.

Had Crouch kept his shot down from Pennant's superb cut back then we would have done, but I suppose given that he'd only been on the field a minute or so Crouch can be forgiven for that. Had Barca scored again I wouldn't have been so forgiving of course!

When you look at the game overall, aside from a fifteen minute spell between 70 and 85 minutes, we were not really in any trouble and were the more dangerous side. They had loads of possession, but that's to be expected. They dominate possession against everybody, and sometimes it's tough to get the ball from them. Xavi's performance was a joy to behold, the guy is pure class and it's impossible to get the ball from him.

They've got quality all over the place, and shutting them down is very difficult because they come at you from so many angles. We've done that though, and no-one can say we didn't deserve to go through. They are the best team in Europe, but we've outplayed them over two legs. No-one can dispute that, and it feels good.

There were heroes all over the park in red shirts, so much so that it's hard to single people out. Everyone did their bit, but I really want to praise Gerrard for his performance. In big games, especially when he plays on the right, sometimes he can be pretty ineffective. To say he goes missing would be unfair, but he often doesn't have the influence that we expect him to have.

In this game I thought he was absolutely terrific, and terrorised Barca at times. It helped that they played without any full backs, and he was given far too much space to operate in. He made the most of it though and was a constant threat.

Dirk deserves great praise too, for the astonishing amount of work he got through. Sometimes he looks like his legs have gone, but then he somehow summons up extra energy reserves and off he goes again. There are flaws in his game that raise question marks about whether he is the long term answer, but it's impossible not to love Dirk Kuyt. Anyone who doesn't love him is simply heartless.


Then there is Riise. I've been one of his biggest critics this season, I think he's had a poor season and I think his future at the club is under real threat this summer. We will sign a new left back to replace him, but he may be able to save his Anfield career by producing performances like this in midfield. He is always a goal threat when he plays in midfield, and he is easily the best option we have there at the moment. He won the tie for us with his goal in the Nou Camp, but he was unlucky not to have won this leg for us too. On another night he'd have had a hat-trick. With no Luis Garcia, we need someone to step into the breach as our Champions League talisman. I think Riise could be the man to do that, and I wouldn't bet against him scoring in the next round either.

The draw for that is this Friday, and I'm desperately hoping we get the mancs. I'm in a minority there I know, but I want them bastards so bad. People say to me they couldn't face the thought of us going out to them. To me that isn't isn't even an option. We owe them big time, just like we owed Chelsea in 2005. I want them in the quarters, although I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't prefer Lille!

The final word on this game has to be reserved for the fans. Not just our fans, theirs too. The great thing about European nights at Anfield is the mutual respect that's always shown. Other English teams act like twats towards European visitors. They show no respect, and they get no respect in return.

European teams and fans look at visits to Anfield as something of a pilgrimage. It means something to them, and they rarely leave disappointed. I've lost count of the teams in recent seasons who have chanted 'Liverpool' at the end of the game, whether they've won - like Benfica last season - or lost, they have been shown respect and it's been reciprocated.

You expect it of the slightly smaller sides like Betis, PSV, Galatasaray etc, but when Barcelona fans are singing YNWA and filming the Kop in awe, and then chanting 'Liverpool' after they've been knocked out, it really is something special. Of course, they know that had they scored a second and knocked us out, their players would have been applauded off and we'd be wishing them well in the next round.

That's what seperates Liverpool from the rest of the Premiership. Do you think Barca were chanting 'Chelsea' after they played at the Bridge? They hate Chelsea, because Chelsea have no class. One banner unveiled at half time by the Barca fans hilariously read: "Mourinho, you're just a fucking translator".

The point is, if you act like dicks then people will treat you like dicks. If you show respect, you'll get respect. The respect that Liverpool and Barca had for eachother was there for all to see. Two of the greatest club sides in the world had gone toe to tow in an epic battle, but there was no bad feeling at the end.

Liverpool and Barca showed what the Champions League is all about, and hopefully UEFA will have observed the mutual respect. It was a far cry from what happened at the Mestalla between Valencia and Inter, although I have to say there's always a place for that kind of thing simply because it's just really funny.

I want the mancs next, but I have a feeling we may get Valencia. If we do, I don't think there'll be a repeat of what happened against Inter. If we get the mancs, then who knows there might be! I'd love to see Momo plant a right hook on Neville the way the Valencia lad did with that Burdisso. If he did, you can be sure he wouldn't be running away Benny Hill style whilst the entire manc team gave chase!


Team: Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Arbeloa; Gerrard, Sissoko, Alonso, Riise (Aurelio); Bellamy (Pennant), Kuyt (Crouch):